COMC Black Friday Sale

[GotMelky]

Not sure if everyone has seen this - COMC (Formerly Checkoutmycards.com) is running a Black Friday promotion.

Black Friday Weekend – Buyer Incentives

1 Get Paid to Buy – COMC will pay 10 cents store credit for every item purchased & shipped from COMC.com* on Black Friday only!
2 Free Shipping – Just order 10+ items from COMC.com* and get Free Shipping, Black Friday through Cyber Monday.
3 Huge Savings – On top of the COMC incentives, hundreds of sellers will be slashing their prices to bring you extraordinary deals!

* Note: CheckOutMyCards.com and the Advanced Reseller Mode on COMC.com will direct buyers to the specials and promotions that are only available from the default COMC.com Simplified Buying Mode.

Black Friday Weekend – Seller Incentives

1 Restock for Free – For every item sold with a “Sale Promotion” (see below) from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, we will give you $0.25 of FREE processing! We will send you a processing voucher that can be used on our One Month, One Week, or One Day services.
2 New Sale Promotions – We are creating a new Classified Ad type that is called a “Sale.” Starting Friday, we will let you create a “Black Friday Sale” for FREE. A Sale is not just a Classified Ad; it will actually adjust your visible asking prices so that people browsing the site will see SALE stickers with your lowered prices. Sales will be very easy to create, you just specify a base discount percentage, and then we let you customize the discount percentage for any of your items.

We want this Black Friday to be the best one yet! Our goal is to increase sales by 10 times! We have launched an extensive online and print ad campaign, including Beckett, Facebook, Google, Bing, and more! We also want to empower you to help us get the word out with our new “10” Referral Program.

I'm running a pretty big sale for my account and am really looking forward to picking up some cards as well!

 

[David K.]

Just got a postcard about Black friday from COMC! Have the dayoff from work! Best regards, David

 

[Trishlp]

I set up my sales this weekend as well to go in effect starting black friday, hope to move some stuff.
Good luck to you.
Trish

 

[gumscards]

Ben, maybe you can answer a couple questions for me about COMC.

So, in order to sell there, you have to pay them at minimum $.25 per card (for ONE MONTH processing time). So to list 400 cards, you're out $100 and have to wait a month.

Then, you have to pay ~20% on the back end if you actually want money sent to you?

How is this worth it?

I'm really not aiming my skepticism at you; you seem like a very nice guy. But it just seems like listing your cards there is like lighting your wallet on fire. Have your experiences been different?

 

[GotMelky]

I'm a firm believer in this site - my sales stats speak for themselves. Selling over the last 3 1/2 months I have made $1,500 in sales - netting out around $600 cash after paying listing fees/cash out fees. The $600 may not seem like such a great deal, except that I have also purchased around $250 worth of cards (So around $850 total funds - I actually have $75 in my account on top of that) and at my current prices can possibly make another $1,300+ cash with cards I have listed for sale without having to figure in the listing fees I have already paid for. Even if I decide to sell my port for the minimum of 10% BV, I would still end up cashing out over $400-500 additional dollars. My monthly sales have been $250, $350, $600, $300 (through Nov. 19th).

What you have to realize is that I am selling cards that I either couldn't/wouldn't sell on eBay or would take forever to sell any other way. These are cards that would just be sitting in boxes at my house. My bigger name cards - high end stuff I will sell other ways. The cards I sell on COMC are all the refractors, rookies, inserts, etc. Unlike some sellers, I price my cards to sell - I usually get around 20-30% of listed BV on the stuff I have sold. Not bad considering this is stuff that I couldn't sell on sites when I listed them at 10-20% of BV. Most of it is stuff I would start at .99 on eBay and hope it sold after relisting it a bunch of times. What I am finding is that the cards actually sell for more on COMC - might be due to the idea that you pay shipping from only one source instead of those .99 wins that end up being 2.99 or 3.99 after shipping for each card. A card that might have sold for .99 on eBay will often sell for $1-3 for me on COMC.

You do pay up front - .25 per card. For the .25 they scan your card front and back, list it on their site, and when it sells they package and ship the product for you. The only work you do as a seller is to mail them cards and then list your prices when the cards are ready to list. They handle complaints, damage to cards, etc. I started by sending in a batch of cards for free with a $20 coupon I found, they generally give these out if you ask. As those cards sold, I used the proceeds to add more cards. In the entire history of my account there, I have only deposited $30-40 into my account throughout the whole process.

I've sold on eBay for a long time and it was generally how I sold cards prior to finding COMC. Before I decided to switch over to COMC I did a comparison on a group of sales through eBay, eBay Store, and COMC (2 week and 1 month service). I did find that I would net more by selling on eBay - but the difference was negligible when you considered the time and effort to sell the cards on eBay vs COMC. So I was cautious at first and sent in that first $20 batch to see how it went. I sold every card from that initial group.

The 20% cash out is a little annoying - but it isn't much different than the 15% eBay takes at the end of their transactions through FVF and Paypal. I figure the extra 5% is worth it to me on the small dollar cards I am selling. You do pay the listing fee up front as well, but it is similar to what eBay usually charges (they are running the free promotion right now).

In your example, say you send in the 400 cards and they are all cards that sell for an average of $1 apiece on the site. Total sales equal $400 - $100 (initial investment), so $300 sitting in your account. Say you then cash out and you end up netting $240 at the end. Think about how long it would take to list the 400 cards on eBay - they all sell for $1.00. You have to pack and ship them all out...you get to deal with the buyers and the new policy that eBay has that allows buyers to pretty much run the show.

When I first looked into it, I wasn't sure either - it has been very worthwhile to me. I've probably picked up 30-40 Shaun Marcum cards through the site as well as a bunch of other PC type stuff. I've been up to long, so sorry if this rambled a bit. Let me know if you have any other questions - I'm not an expert, but I have been on there a bit and doing well.

 

[gumscards]

Hi Ben. I really appreciate your insight on this. I think if I can get a $20 coupon I'll submit 80 cards for free and see what happens.

 

[GotMelky]

It's a good way to start - it's not an instant thing as well. My sales are pretty steady, but nothing really huge. I generally make $10-20 day but sometimes I make $1 in a day or nothing. Just depends on all the factors.

One other tip - pay attention to what you send in. Nothing high end - most of my sales are on cards with BV in the $4-$8. Try and send in items that are not listed or that only one or two are on the site (especially if the in stock item is overpriced). Of course, hot players always sell well, so Jeter - Trout - Harper - etc will sell well anyway.

 

[dp33]

I think it's pretty nice that you can create these ahead of time so that they will be loaded and ready to go once Friday comes. From the sound of it, I thought I'd have to wait until Friday to create the sales promotion, so it's nice that I am already done with it. I'm hoping to move quite a bit of my cards that have been sitting around, but also hope that some of the cards I'm looking for get marked down too.

 

[JJLevitsky]

Just took a quick look at the 2007 Topps 52 black backs that have been on my wantlist forever. Found almost 2/3 of the ones I need listed. I hope they are all still there on Friday. Total of I think 24 cards so free shipping that day.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[GotMelky]

And hopefully some discounts for you as well! I've loaded up my cart with stuff I want, will go through and see what deals there are on Friday - checking back all weekend and Monday as the new sales post. GL to you!

Just took a quick look at the 2007 Topps 52 black backs that have been on my wantlist forever. Found almost 2/3 of the ones I need listed. I hope they are all still there on Friday. Total of I think 24 cards so free shipping that day.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[JJLevitsky]

So I can load up my cart in advance? I was going to wait until tomorrow morning. Might do that now.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[David K.]

Checked out COMC last night and all set to purchase cards on Friday! Their on the Pacific daylight saving time area....so purchases on 11/23/2012 at 12:01 am? Best regards, David

 

[JJLevitsky]

Cart is now full. 24 cards for $49.49. Take out the Hamilton at $9.25 (OUCH but I need it) and it comes to $1.75 a card. Not bad. I just hope the shipping goes away when I check in tomorrow.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[GotMelky]

I'm pumped - should be available starting at midnight tonight!

Also - If you guys click on the COMC.com links in my initial post, they just started a new referral program where they will pay .10 for each new visit generated through those links. Appreciate it!

 

[Trishlp]

I have my card loaded up as well just waiting to see what goes on sale and hoping that I sell a lot over the weekend to raise more funds.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Trish

 

[twinscollector]

I got some great deals on COMC this morning. Free shipping and the prices blow eBay out of the water. Check it out if you haven't already.

 

[David K.]

Ordering right now with 10+ and it still has shipping cost included? Best regards, David

 

[David K.]

Clicked on COMC for a print out of the transaction while in the cart screen....and it showed my items with congrats....you reached the free shipping and it only charged me for the cards!! Best regards, David

 

[DaClyde]

Must be something wrong with the Black Friday sale, none of my cards have sold. Come on, people! Clean me out!

 

[JJLevitsky]

Yesterday it was 24 cards for $49.49 + $3.00 shipping. Today I paid $45.22 with no shipping for the same cards. GOOD DEAL!!!

Thanks,

Jeff